Slicing open Orange history

In these interesting times many people must be looking for reliably critical information on the Orange Order. Well, they need look no further. The ever-reliable Connolly Association has published this short history of the Orange Order in time to add much-needed background knowledge to the current debate about the bowler-hatted brethren's rights and wrongs.

Peter Berresford Ellis brings us back to 1690 and immediately scuppers the Orangemen's much repeated claim to be upholding `civil and religious liberties' won at the Battle of the Boyne. Not at all, he argues: ``The Boyne was not the most significant battle of the Williamite conquest of Ireland - Aughrim and the ending of the siege of Limerick a year later, in 1691, were the more important events. And far from William's victory bringing in a period of `civil and religious liberty', for both dissenting Protestants as well as Catholics it brought in over a century of loss of rights which had already been secured - on paper, at least, in Acts 13 and 15 of James II's Dublin Parliament in 1689.''

Indeed, he adds, ``the so-called `religious liberty' won by William of Orange was the cause of a quarter of a million Ulster Presbyterians migrating to the New World colonies between the years 1717-1776 alone.''

Eventually and inevitably the Catholics and Dissenters united in a republican movement which became, in 1791, the United Irishmen. The Anglican Establishment saw their ruin in such an alliance. The Anglican Archbishop of Armagh, Hugh Boulter, wrote: ``The worst of this is that it stands to unite Protestant and Papist, and whenever that happens, goodbye to the English interest in Ireland forever.''

So it was in 1795, when the Orange Order was founded in the fertile sectarian ground of Armagh, that it was quickly recognised by leaders of the Anglican Ascendancy as a movement which could destroy the United Irishmen.

Berresford Ellis writes: ``Therefore the Orange Order enters Irish history as a High Tory conservative, sectarian and counter-revolutionary force - an elitist group organised and governed by the gentry, utilising farmers and yeomen of the Anglican faith, as a terrorist counterpoise to the United Irish movement then striving to unite Catholic and Protestant in a common reformist and national cause. Dissenters were excluded from its ranks, it is important to emphasise this.''

For its first four decades the Order was exclusively Anglican.

It is interesting to note that the Orange Order, as with the Anglican Ascendancy, was opposed to Union with Britain which was proposed following the United Irishmen rebellion of 1798. All the Orange Lodges of the nine Ulster counties organised a meeting and issued a declaration that the proposed Union would bring ``inevitable ruin to the peace, prosperity and happiness of Ireland.'' How times change.

Following the Act of Union the Orange Order declined because the Anglican Ascendancy no longer had need of it. Then came the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 and the rise of Daniel O'Connell. In opposition was born Presbyterian Orangeism. In 1834 the Orange Order opened its membership to all Protestants.

Following this, the Orange Order became an organisation for working-class Protestants and its fortunes ``rose and fell in direct relationship to the rise and fall of the Irish national liberation movements''.

Berresford Ellis ends this fine study by saying: ``For this historian, there is a sadness that a people can be so utterly manipulated by a misunderstanding of history. Instead of being shown the reality of a common past, the Protestants of Ulster have been deliberately subverted into believing a mythological history. Their view of William of Orange and the Boyne Water is a dream of a world which never existed. The worse thing is that, lacking the knowledge of the realities of the common past shared with their fellow Irishmen and women, they are still disputing the realities of the present.''

My recommendation is: buy as many copies of this short publication as you can and distribute them to as many people as you can. And do it as soon as you can.

By Brian Campbell

The story of Down's republicans

With the 200th anniversary of the 1798 United Irish Rebellion fast approaching, you can expect a flood of books on the subject. And, most heartening, many of them will be works of local history.

In the Heat of the Hurry, by former Republican prisoner, Marcas MacRuairí, is among the best of its type. It is a history of republicanism in County Down from the 1790s to the 1950s and it is well-researched (both from interviews with veteran republicans and from secondary sources) and readable. It flows along at a lively pace and manages to combine wit with learning.

While books such as these are largely for a local readership, this one would also be attractive to a wider audience. Many famous republicans - such as Young Irelanders John Mitchel and John Martin - came from County Down and the area even elected Eamon de Valera. Indeed, a strength of the book is the way in which it places local happenings in the wider political context.

Local events are well-told: ``Operations in Down continued into June and July 1922: there were gun attacks on Castlewellan and Ardglass RUC Barracks and the Specials were fired on at Kilclief. Before attacks would take place all roads and telegraph cables in the surounding areas would be blocked and cut. On the night of the Castlewellan attack, James O'Hagan of Moyad was forced to dig a trench across the road to prevent reinforcements getting to the town. The following day James was forced to fill it in again by the British Army! The attack on Castlewellan Barracks was only halted when smoke started billowing from the door. However, the fire in the building was not as fierce as the thick smoke suggested and damage was only minimal. RUC personnel, who were drinking in a pub in the Lower Square during the attack, were kept pinned down by Volunteer Frank McCartan shooting through the windows with a rifle.''

The book has some accounts never published before and it will be snapped up by County Down republicans. The cover needs a sub-title to distinguish it but I'm sure its reputation will make it well-known.

By Brian Campbell